A Phase 1 Study of Intravenous Busulfan as a Conditioning Regimen for Multiple Myeloma

The efficacy of melphalan (MEL) 140 mg/m 2 pre-transplant conditioning versus MEL 200 mg/m 2 for the elderly is still debated. We hypothesized that single-agent intravenous busulfan (BU) would show significant anti-myeloma efficacy and be better tolerated by elderly patients. A prospective 3+3 dose escalation study enrolled symptomatic multiple myeloma (MM) patients 65 years or older with SWOG performance 0–2 for treatment with intravenous BU pre-transplant at different administration levels. The primary objective was to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of BU that could be safely given over the least number of days. All patients, except one, received maintenance treatment post-transplant, mostly for 2 years. We enrolled 13 patients, mean age of 73 years (range 68–80). Pharmacokinetic analysis showed no greater than 2% accumulation in the 13 patients, confirming a lack of accumulation in the multi-dose regimen. No deaths occurred in the peri-transplant period. Grade 3/4 adverse effects were hematological, no dose-limiting toxicity was observed and MTD was not reached. Three patients developed grade 3 mucositis but none developed veno-occlusive disease. Ten (77%) patients achieved a complete remission (CR) post-transplant with a remarkably long average time to best response of 6.7 months (range: 6–14 m), and two attained a partial response. Median overall survival was 84 months (95% CI, 21–104) and the median progression-free survival was 60 months (95% CI, 9–93). Our results suggest that IV BU could be an alternative conditioning regimen to MEL 140 in elderly patients with MM, and supports future randomized trials

Multiple myeloma presenting as CEA-producing rectal cancer

We report the case of a 57-year-old patient with multiple myeloma, characterized by extramedullary involvement of the rectum at presentation. Malignant plasma cells were found to produce carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), a tumor antigen more commonly associated with rectal adenocarcinomas

Off-label use of combined antiretroviral therapy, analysis of data collected by the Italian Register for HIV-1 infection in paediatrics in a large cohort of children

Background: Early start of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in perinatally HIV-1 infected children is the optimal strategy to prevent immunological and clinical deterioration. To date, according to EMA, only 35% of antiretroviral drugs are licenced in children  25%. At last check, during the off label regimen, the 80% (40/50) of patients had an undetectable VL, and 90% (45/50) of them displayed CD4 + T lymphocyte percentage > 25%. The most widely used off-label drugs were: dolutegravir/abacavir/lamivudine (16%; 8/50), emtricitbine/tenofovir disoproxil (22%; 11/50), lopinavir/ritonavir (20%; 10/50) and elvitegravir/cobicistat/emtricitabine/ tenofovir alafenamide (10%; 10/50). At logistic regression analysis, detectable VL before starting the current HAART regimen was a risk factor for receiving an off-label therapy (OR: 2.41; 95% CI 1.13-5.19; p = 0.024). Moreover, children < 2 years of age were at increased risk for receiving off-label HAART with respect to older children (OR: 3.24; 95% CI 1063-7.3; p = 0.001). Even if our safety data regarding off-label regimens where poor, no adverse event was reported. Conclusion: The prescription of an off-label HAART regimen in perinatally HIV-1 infected children was common, in particular in children with detectable VL despite previous HAART and in younger children, especially those receiving their first regimen. Our data suggest similar proportions of virological and immunological successes at last check among children receiving off-label or on-label HAART. Larger studies are needed to better clarify efficacy and safety of off-label HAART regimens in children, in order to allow the enlargement of on-label prescription in children

Alkaline phosphatase variation during carfilzomib treatment is associated with best response in multiple myeloma patients

The ubiquitin–proteasome pathway regulates bone formation through osteoblast differentiation. We analyzed variation alkaline phosphatase (ALP) during carfilzomib treatment. Data from 38 patients enrolled in the PX‐171‐003 and 29 patients in PX‐171‐004 studies, for patients with relapsed/refractory myeloma, were analyzed. All patients received 20 mg/m 2 of carfilzomib on Days 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, and 16 of a 28‐day cycle. Sixty‐seven patients from ALP data were evaluable. In PX‐171‐003, the ORR (>PR) was 18% and the clinical benefit response (CBR; >MR) was 26%, while in PX‐171‐004, the ORR was 35.5% overall and 57% in bortezomib‐naive patients. ALP increment from baseline was statistically different in patients who achieved ≥VGPR compared with all others on Days 1 ( P  = 0.0049) and 8 ( P  = 0.006) of Cycle 2. In patients achieving a VGPR or better, ALP increased more than 15 units per liter at Cycle 2 Day 1 over baseline. An ALP increase over the same period of time was seen in 26%, 13% and 11% of patients achieving PR, MR, and SD, respectively. This retrospective analysis of patients with relapsed or refractory myeloma treated with single‐agent carfilzomib indicates that early elevation in ALP is associated with subsequent myeloma response.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/86807/1/j.1600-0609.2011.01602.x.pd

Epigenomic translocation of H3K4me3 broad domains over oncogenes following hijacking of super-enhancers

Chromosomal translocations are important drivers of hematological malignancies whereby proto-oncogenes are activated by juxtaposition with super-enhancers, often called enhancer hijacking. We analysed the epigenomic consequences of rearrangements between the super-enhancers of the immunoglobulin heavy locus (IGH) and proto-oncogene CCND1 that are common in B cell malignancies. By integrating BLUEPRINT epigenomic data with DNA breakpoint detection, we characterised the normal chromatin landscape of the human IGH locus and its dynamics after pathological genomic rearrangement. We detected an H3K4me3 broad domain (BD) within the IGH locus of healthy B cells that was absent in samples with IGH-CCND1 translocations. The appearance of H3K4me3-BD over CCND1 in the latter was associated with overexpression and extensive chromatin accessibility of its gene body. We observed similar cancer-specific H3K4me3-BDs associated with super-enhancer hijacking of other common oncogenes in B cell (MAF, MYC and FGFR3/NSD2) and in T-cell malignancies (LMO2, TLX3 and TAL1). Our analysis suggests that H3K4me3-BDs can be created by super-enhancers and supports the new concept of epigenomic translocation, where the relocation of H3K4me3-BDs from cell identity genes to oncogenes accompanies the translocation of super-enhancers

The functional epigenetic landscape of aberrant gene expression in molecular subgroups of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma

Background Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a hematological malignancy with genomic heterogeneity and poor survival outcome. Apart from the central role of genetic lesions, epigenetic anomalies have been identified as drivers in the development of the disease. Methods Alterations in the DNA methylome were mapped in 52 newly diagnosed MM (NDMM) patients of six molecular subgroups and matched with loci-specific chromatin marks to define their impact on gene expression. Differential DNA methylation analysis was performed using DMAP with a ≥10% increase (hypermethylation) or decrease (hypomethylation) in NDMM subgroups, compared to control samples, considered significant for all the subsequent analyses with p<0.05 after adjusting for a false discovery rate. Results We identified differentially methylated regions (DMRs) within the etiological cytogenetic subgroups of myeloma, compared to control plasma cells. Using gene expression data we identified genes that are dysregulated and correlate with DNA methylation levels, indicating a role for DNA methylation in their transcriptional control. We demonstrated that 70% of DMRs in the MM epigenome were hypomethylated and overlapped with repressive H3K27me3. In contrast, differentially expressed genes containing hypermethylated DMRs within the gene body or hypomethylated DMRs at the promoters overlapped with H3K4me1, H3K4me3, or H3K36me3 marks. Additionally, enrichment of BRD4 or MED1 at the H3K27ac enriched DMRs functioned as super-enhancers (SE), controlling the overexpression of genes or gene-cassettes. Conclusions Therefore, this study presents the underlying epigenetic regulatory networks of gene expression dysregulation in NDMM patients and identifies potential targets for future therapies

Plasma cells expression from smouldering myeloma to myeloma reveals the importance of the PRC2 complex, cell cycle progression, and the divergent evolutionary pathways within the different molecular subgroups

Sequencing studies have shed some light on the pathogenesis of progression from smouldering multiple myeloma (SMM) and symptomatic multiple myeloma (MM). Given the scarcity of smouldering samples, little data are available to determine which translational programmes are dysregulated and whether the mechanisms of progression are uniform across the main molecular subgroups. In this work, we investigated 223 SMM and 1348 MM samples from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) for which we had gene expression profiling (GEP). Patients were analysed by TC-7 subgroup for gene expression changes between SMM and MM. Among the commonly dysregulated genes in each subgroup, PHF19 and EZH2 highlight the importance of the PRC2.1 complex. We show that subgroup specific differences exist even at the SMM stage of disease with different biological features driving progression within each TC molecular subgroup. These data suggest that MMSET SMM has already transformed, but that the other precursor diseases are distinct clinical entities from their symptomatic counterpart